And now for a different slant on Maximilian sunflowers

When I was taking pictures on October 1 at the intersection of Greenlawn Blvd. and Interstate 35 in Round Rock just north of the border with Austin, I not only photographed a gulf fritillary butterfly on Maximilian sunflowers, Helianthus maximiliani, but the plants in their own right. Here I caught a cross-section of a stand of those normally erect sunflowers at the leftmost position to which a gust of wind blew them.

You might say all those years of teaching math prepared me for this angle on things. See how I’ve come full circle.

You may want to ask your neighbor if she meant Jester. Jester Estates is a neighborhood in hilly northwest Austin a few miles southwest of the Great Hills neighborhood where I live. Two roads enter Jester, and both climb fairly steeply.

Actually this is a different species. The one you know as topinamb(o)ur, also called Jerusalem artichoke or sunchoke or girasole, is Helianthus tuberosus, whose species name refers to the plant’s edible tubers. According to the Wikipedia article about Helianthus maximiliani: “The thick rhizome is edible and provided a food similar to the Jerusalem artichoke for Native American groups such as the Sioux.” I’ve never tried eating the local species, but I’ll have to ask around to see if anyone I know has.

Indeed, both of them belong to the same Asteraceae family and come from North America, where Sioux had as edible food. Anyway, we use to prepare the tuber in a very simple way, by slicing it very thin and fry gently in extra virgin olive oil, few drops of white wine, fresh parsley and a sprinkle of salt and pepper (perhaps just a hint of garlic). The taste reminds about artichoke and it is so good and light. It is worth trying.